


Blessed and Cursed

by Hyperionova



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Bad boy Kai, Caste conflicts, Forbidden Love, M/M, Medieval, Priest's son Sehun, Slightly jealous Sehun, Smut, Young Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-08-10 01:00:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20126755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hyperionova/pseuds/Hyperionova
Summary: A tender love story between a rowdy yet bold miscreant and the naive yet beautiful son of the High Priest of Greywater.





	Blessed and Cursed

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sehunslave](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sehunslave/gifts).

> Warning: Story contains some content that might trigger some, i.e. domestic abuse, graphic public execution, prostitution, smut and the ugliness of the middle ages. Read at your own discretion.

CHAPTER ONE

All wind was knocked out of his chest as he landed on the ground, facedown into a puddle of mucky, grimy mud. _Oh, great_, he thought. Mud stains on the only good tunic he owned. The day had started with such promise. Now, he was kissing the dirt. Swearing through his grit teeth, he pushed himself upright and turned his head around to glower at the tavernkeeper.

“And stay out, you piece of pig’s swine shit!” yapped the bald but bearded man. “You get closer to my little girl again, and I will chop your fucking balls off!”

Grunting, Kai climbed up to his feet and wiped off the mud sticking to his trousers. “My mother is going to kill me,” he groaned, running a filthy hand through his mussed hair. He then flipped the tavernkeeper off, sticking his middle finger out as the man slammed the tavern’s backdoor shut.

When he looked around, the townspeople were staring at him, pinning him with the usual stink eye. He had gotten rather used to it. He did not much care for it either. Rubbing the side of his face where the tavernkeeper had thwacked a moment ago, he started limping away, grumbling a string of profanities under his breath.

“Ouch,” he hissed when his cheek stung against the pressure of his fingers. It served him right for trying to pick up the tavernkeeper’s daughter, he supposed. She was not even half pretty. She had eyes like a fish and a nose like a crow’s beak, too. But Kai did not get many offers around this wretched town. Ugly or not, a twat was a twat, was it not? So long it was warm and wet.

In a town like Greywater, a seventeen-year-old boy, who barely grew any hairs on his face and had no coins in his pockets, rarely had the chance to lift a girl’s kirtle. And well, Kai was not picky. In the absence of a girl, he would not mind lifting a lad’s tunic. But people were not exactly standing in line to bend for someone as scrawny, dirty and roguish as him.

“Hey, Kai!”

Halting in his tracks, Kai spun around to look at the bunch of boisterous and loud lads waving in his way. His dear, dear friends. Tony, Carrot, and Jee. Like him, they spent most of their days strutting around the town, loafing through the streets with nothing better to do. They were all scoundrels who were up to absolutely no good. If the townspeople had the choice, they would chase all five of them out of Greywater.

“What happened to you?” asked Carrot as Kai walked over to them with swelling cheek and dirtied clothes. Spitting onto the ground, Kai flicked a blob of mud from his tunic and huffed heavily at his friends, who were already grinning at him in anticipation of a story they could laugh at.

With his arms crossed over his chest, Kai leaned against a wall of the alley. “The tavernkeeper cuffed me real hard for making sheep eyes at his daughter,” he told them.

Almost immediately, his friends broke into a thunderous laughter. When Jee shoved his shoulder playfully, poking fun at him, Kai gave the lad a tight slap across the face. Pouting then, Jee stepped away, rubbing his slapped cheek.

“I have seen that lass before,” said Tony, carding his fingers through his red, curly hair. “She has the nose of a toucan.”

“She really does,” said Carrot. “Why did you get your face broken for _her_?”

Kai groaned. “I don’t know. I was thinking with my knob, I guess.”

“I would fuck her,” said Jee.

“That’s because you look like the ass of a chimp,” said Tony. He was not wrong. Out of all of them, Tony was the one who was blessed with the good looks. His pale freckled skin was a fierce contrast to his fire-red hair. He had a sharp nose, angular jaw, and a pair of emerald eyes that had a hint of yellow in them.

“Suck cock, Tony,” spat Jee, scowling at Tony.

“He already does,” scoffed Carrot, throwing an arm over Tony’s shoulders.

Kai was not exactly horrifying to look at, but he was slathered in dirt and muck most of the days and had the manners of a boor, whose hands were as rough as the bark of a tree. However, he could look pretty decent if he ever bothered to clean up. He rarely put a comb to his hair. His clothes were always a crumpled mess. There was constant dirt under his fingernails. And he was no lover, though he was a big fan of getting laid. Tony was. Girls liked lads like Tony. Even though Tony was a bit of a rogue, he was more mannered and gentler than Kai could ever be. He was a sweet-talker. Girls liked shit like that. He could get any girl he wanted in Greywater. Too bad he was a tunic-lifter. Over the years, Kai had learnt that the lady parts did as much as a wet cardboard could for Tony. He preferred boys. Which was not a bad thing. Kai liked them both. Couldn’t get them, but he liked them.

And Tony had eyes for one particular boy in the town.

“We should go out tonight,” said Tony. “To the tavern.”

Kai rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know if I would be welcome back there.”

“It will not be the first time we step into that place without an invitation,” said Jee. “I am in the mood for some ale.”

Ale did sound good. Kai never had the money for it, but that never stopped him from getting sloshed at the tavern almost nightly. “I better get home and get out of this mess first,” he told his friend. “See you at the_ Weasel_ tonight!”

Giving a wave of his hand at his friends, he turned on his heel and started toward home. He hated the rainy season. The town was mired in mud day and night. The townspeople were louder during those days, trudging over the muddy terrain, swearing and shouting. Everything about Greywater was filthy. Everything but the temple on top of the hill.

Kai gazed up at the pristine building that sat on the hill, far from the reach of the likes of him. Sometimes, he wanted to see the house of God and the pretentious, arrogant men who govern the faculty crumble to dust.

People like him were not allowed into the holy sanctuary. He was too dirty, too immoral, too dishonourable. Not that Kai ever wanted to go in there, anyway. If anything, he believed that if the God were real, He would not be squandering every hour of the day sitting within four walls, listening to desperate mortal men whine about how unreasonable their lives were. Kai was not one of them. He had never asked the God for anything, nor had he ever groused about the crappy life he was given. He figured that he could not be in God’s good books if he were destined to be born in a town like Greywater.

“Watch where you’re going, mongrel,” spat a man when Kai almost ran into his wagon of cornmeal sacks. Picking up a stone from the ground, Kai hurled it at the wagon. The man grumbled but did not do anything else.

“Fuck off,” he muttered as he turned away, sticking his hands into the pockets of his stained trousers. Though he was taller than most men in the town, he was still very skinny with little meat to his bones. That had never stopped him from getting into a fight, though. Sometimes, the fight was brought to him. Other times, he sought it out himself.

Over the years, he had developed a thick skin, both literally and metaphorically. He needed one if he were going to survive in this shithole.

“Get out of the way! All of you, make way for the priests!”

Kai stopped to look back at the commotion. The temple guards were ordering the townspeople to clear a path on the street, shoving them out of the way, men, women and children alike. They had the power to do anything to keep the ‘filth’ far away from touching the ‘pure’.

Enveloped by the temple guards was the discretion of priests, all clad in maroon robes. They always looked so lifeless. They never smiled. It was as though they had a noose tightened around their necks at all times.

The priests were on their way to the temple. And amid them was the High Priest. Tall, wide-shouldered, grey-haired. Kai disliked him the most. Well, the disliking was mutual, he supposed. But Kai held the man in disfavour for the reason that the High Priest was the most imperious, conceited, high-handed bastard of them all. As the High Priest, he was allowed to take as many wives as he wished. He was allowed to step on as many people as he wanted on his way up to the temple. Nothing in this town happened without him knowing. Yet he cared very little for the ‘filth’ he trampled on. Even so, these idiots worshipped him because they believed he was the frontman for the God.

If Kai could, he would give the man a piece of his mind. Unfortunately, the temple guards were the one group of people in the town he did not want to pick a bone with. They were merciless towards the likes of him.

Oh, how Kai would love to taint these people’s purity and dirty their chastity.

Once the priests were out of sight, he proceeded towards home, sighing exasperatedly. If it were up to him, he would never go home. But he still had a mother who cared about his wellbeing, and she was probably the only person in this goddamn world that Kai cared about apart from his ne’er-do-well friends. Sometimes, he would pick up odd jobs here and there and gather enough money to buy her something pretty. She was the only one who could tame him. She was the only one who _loved_ him. But she was a damfool. She could not count. She was an illiterate. So was Kai, but he could at least write his own name. She was clumsy. She burned her fingers far too many times in the kitchen. And when she was mad, sad, happy, all that she did was cry. Kai had made her cry many times. Especially when he would go home with broken and bleeding knuckles or a bruised face. She would beg him to not to get into fights again. Kai would promise her that he would not. He never kept his promises. He never tried to.

But he loved her.

Too bad she mothered a lawless, rotten good-for-nothing.

When he reached home, which was a small, insignificant hut, whose roof leaked every time it rained, he found his mother in the kitchen, stirring a kettle of pottage. Pottage was all that they could afford to eat. Well, on special days, they would have some eggs. Today was not a special day. So, it was boiled potatoes and flavourless pottage.

“Kai, you’re back,” she said, sweat beads rolling down the sides of her face. Wiping them off, she rose to her feet and turned to Kai. Almost instantly, her eyebrows furrowed into a frown. “What happened?” she gasped, mustering the mess Kai was in. “Did you get into another fight?!”

“No,” Kai lied. “I just… fell.”

Yanking his shirt off, he tossed it over to his mother. Her frown deepened, catching her rowdy son’s lie all too well.

“Wash it for me,” said Kai before he spun around and started for his room, which was probably smaller than a trunk. He needed a quick wash before he could jump into something cleaner.

“I worry for you, Kai,” said his mother.

He did not answer as he walked away. She always worried for him. When he reached his room, he shimmied out of his trousers and lounged on the straw pallet to rest his back for a few moments.

Clenching his eyes shut, he threw his arm over them and drew in a few deep breaths. He was turning eighteen soon. There was no reason for him to stay here any longer. He could leave. The world was his oyster, was it not? He would find some kind of opportunity to make a living out there. He had no reason to stay but one. His mother. She would leave Greywater. She would leave her husband. Women were not supposed to leave their husbands. The High Priest would never condone such behaviour. And what the High Priest said went in this town. It was the word of the God.

Just as how he said that the ‘pure’ should not be touched by the ‘filth’.

Kai sat up after a while, unable to rest much. Rising from the pallet, he washed the dirt off his body and hair before jumping into a pair of clean trousers and a threadbare shirt. Then running his hands through his damp hair, he tried to neaten it as much as he could. Perhaps he would meet a lass at the tavern tonight who would want to get with him.

Once he thought he was ready, he made his way out of his room.

“Kai, eat something,” his mother said.

“I will when I come back,” said Kai as he hurried out of the hut.

“But… Oh, all right. Be safe.”

* * *

It was harder than usual to sneak into the tavern without being noticed. But he eventually managed as Carrot and Jee distracted the tavernkeeper while Tony shielded Kai with his cloak. As soon as they were inside, they quickly found the most crowded corner of the tavern, where men were drunk enough to forget their names.

“See,” said Tony, withdrawing the cloak from Kai. “Easy as pie.”

Kai surveyed the men around him, searching for a bottle he could loot. “There.” He pointed to a man who was already half snoring with a hand loosely wrapped around a bottle of ale. Kai was as unprincipled as the next person. Stealing was one of the many mischiefs he committed without an ounce of guilt.

Jee and Carrot soon joined them, both giggling at their victory. “He suspected nothing,” said Jee but was promptly distracted by the barkeeping girl whose bodice was so tight that her mounds of a breast were almost popping out. “Oh, wow. I see something I like.”

With that, he cavorted away. The rest of them found a small table in the furthest corner to sit at. Kai uncorked the stolen ale bottle and took a large draft of the ale before passing the bottle around. Wiping his mouth on the back of his hand, he glanced around the tavern. His gaze then landed on the lad who was staring in the direction of their table, his dark eyes fixated on a certain redhead, who was oblivious to the attention he had been receiving.

“Oi,” Kai called, nodding toward Tony. Chugging the ale, Tony arched an eyebrow at him. “Looks like someone wants a piece of your meat.” He jerked his head at the boy who was basically eye-fucking Tony.

Following Kai’s direction, Tony looked at the lad and smiled. “He is cute.”

Kai sighed, yanking the bottle out of Carrot’s hand. “Yeah. He looks like he wants to undress you right here and now.”

“I will never understand how you two can get your pintles up for blokes,” said Carrot with a grimace. “They don’t have no boobs. No cunt.”

“They have two other perfectly functionable holes,” said Kai, holding two of his fingers up.

“Well, I guess.”

“Are you planning on smashing that?” asked Kai.

Tony shook his head, heaving a sigh. “My mind’s scattered.”

“What’s wrong?” inquired Carrot.

Jee was trying to flirt with the waitress on the other side of the room. From the way he was grinning, it looked like success was playing for his team tonight.

“It does not feel right doing it with other lads anymore,” said Tony. “I don’t know. It just… I don’t know.”

“Wait a second,” said Kai. “Are you talking about… you know who?”

Tony brushed a lock of curl out of his face and nodded slowly.

Kai snorted out a laugh. “He does not even know that you exist, for fuck’s sake,” he said to Tony. “You are going to pass up on _that_ for someone you had never even met?”

“I have seen him plenty of times,” spat Tony, scowling.

“Yeah, we all have,” scoffed Kai. “He is not going to spread his knees for you in this lifetime, Tony.”

“You think I don’t know that?” He sounded angry now. “It is about how I feel, Kai. He is so… beautiful. Like a flower. Like… the sky. The river. God, my life would be complete with him in it. Agh! Why do I bother… You would not understand until you fall in love.”

Kai rolled his eyes. Love. Bullshit.

Tony could fool himself all he wanted. But at the end of the day, Kai knew that it was no love. The bastard just wanted to bend the boy and fuck him good. That was all.

“Oh, should I go get us some teacups and biscuits while we are discussing this?” snorted Kai.

Tony groaned. “Mock all you want, Kai. But I love him.”

Kai decided to let it go, realizing that this was raising Tony’s hackles. “Whatever,” he mumbled and leaned back in his chair to grab the drunk sot’s tankard from the next table. The man was too fuddled to notice. Kai knocked back the drink from the tankard. It was mead. The expensive kind. Unfortunately, there was not much.

* * *

When they left the tavern that night, it was just Kai, Tony and Carrot as Jee did manage to get lucky with the waiting girl. The rest of them were not as lucky. Well, Tony did get an offer, but he turned it down. And Kai was too pissed to take it for himself.

As they teetered through the quiet, dark street, Carrot began to sing. Soon, Tony and Kai were singing along, screaming at the top of their lungs, stumbling over each other’s feet.

“Shut up!” someone yelled from one of the houses. Kai grabbed a rock and flung it at the wooden window.

“You shut up!” Kai cried back.

However, they fell quiet all of a sudden when they heard approaching footsteps.

“Temple guards!” gasped Carrot.

Hurriedly, they stepped into an alley to stay out of the guards’ way. “Wait,” said Tony, standing on the tip of his toes to get a better look at the group of people strutting through the street in the dead of the night. They were just priests returning home from the temple.

“Tony, what are you doing?” hissed Kai when his friend began to wander away.

“It’s him,” Tony rasped drowsily, clearly too drunk to even think straight.

“It’s who?”

Tony’s lips stretched into a grin. “Him, Kai.” With that, he broke into a run.

Kai froze for a moment, unable to understand if he were just seeing things or Tony was actually running towards the temple guards.

Then he spotted the three older women who were accompanying the High Priest along with two young girls and a boy, whose skin was as white as milk, hair as dark as the rain-soaked soil, and was almost as tall as Kai, perhaps even taller—Kai could not tell because he had never been closer than twenty feet away from the boy. The High Priest’s only son. Sehun.

The boy Tony was in love with.

If there was anything more pristine and chaste than the temple itself, it was the High Priest’s children. Nothing was to touch them. No one was to get close to them. Especially a ‘filth’.

“Tony,” Kai snapped as he sprinted after the boy. He halted abruptly to look back at Carrot who was still hiding. “Hey, Carrot! Come on!”

Carrot shook his head. “No.”

Groaning, Kai turned around and ran toward Tony before he could do something stupid.

The temple guards stopped, noticing Tony who was advancing towards them with a silly grin etched to his face. Though the guards were not armed, they were still many and trained in punching people’s teeth in.

He almost caught up to Tony when the latter reached the High Priest and his family. “High Priest,” Tony wheezed, dropping to his knees. The High Priest pinned him with a cocked eyebrow, having lost none of his composure. When the temple guards stepped forward, the man stopped them.

“Let us hear out this young man,” said the High Priest.

“He is drunk,” said one of his wives, her expression twisted in disgust.

Tony rose to his full height again. Now, he was staring at the High Priest’s son. Perhaps he was right. Perhaps he was in love. Because he looked like he might just die for the boy right then and there.

Kai was not sure what about the High Priest’s son that made Tony so weak and crazy for him. Yeah, the boy was beautiful. He might even be the most beautiful person in all of Greywater. But apart from that, Tony knew nothing about him. Because the boy almost never came out of his house except for his little trips to the temple. That was how Tony had seen him for the first time. Kai had been convinced that it was the boy’s body that Tony had been lusting after.

Hell, Kai would love to ravage the boy’s creamy white skin and delicately svelte body, too.

The boy looked back at Tony confusedly, blinking his beautiful eyes.

“I am in love with you,” blurted out Tony.

Kai bit his tongue so hard that he tasted blood.

No one moved. Kai was not sure he was even breathing anymore.

The High Priest’s son, Sehun, went completely still, his eyes bulging out. For a moment, his complexion turned ashen as though he had been encountered by a spirit.

Kai lurched forward with his fists balled when the temple guards seized Tony’s arms. But he stopped when the High Priest interrupted.

“Stop,” he told the guards. “Let him go.”

Tony, eyes struck with horror, fell to his knees when the temple guards released him.

“He dares to—” one of the guards began to growl but was cut off by the High Priest.

“It is late. Let us not cause a scene and wake the people,” said the man.

The temple guards continued to snarl at Tony, whose face had paled as he looked up at the High Priest’s son, who still had not snapped out of the trance he was in.

As the High Priest and the others walked away, Kai bowed his head, clenching his teeth and fists forcefully. When he lifted his eyes a little, his gaze instantly locked with the High Priest’s son.

Sehun frowned worriedly before he immediately looked away when Kai scowled murderously at him.

As soon as they were far from reach, Kai hurried to Tony’s side and dropped to a crouch. Placing a hand on his trembling friend’s back, he said, “Are you all right?”

Tony did not say anything for a long time as he continued to shake like a leaf. The ale was all out of his system now. And along with sobriety came the realization of what he had just done.

“Tony?” called Kai, wrapping an arm over his friend’s back. “Let’s go home.”

Giving a shaky nod of his head, Tony let Kai help him up to his feet. This could have ended a lot worse. Kai was glad that the High Priest had been in a forgiving mood tonight.

“What were you trying to do? Get your dick chopped off, eh?” Kai berated Tony as they wobbled their way back.

* * *

The next morning, he roused to a ruckus in the house. The noise that came from the kitchen sounded like someone was beating drums inside his head. Gripping it, he sat up and squinted at the morning sunlight that poured into his room through the unbarred window. He rubbed his pulsating temples for a moment to soothe the pounding headache, which must have been caused by last night’s frolicking.

Sitting up, he rubbed his eyes on the hilt of his palms. The side of his jaw the tavernkeeper had slammed yesterday throbbed painfully. Ignoring it, he wondered what was the loud noise that had roused him. He stilled then when he heard a clay pot shattering against the wall. Then he heard his father’s booming voice. Next was his mother’s cry.

In one swift and hasty move, he jolted up from the pallet and raced out of the room. The pounding in his head doubled as he gritted his teeth and stormed into the kitchen, where he found his father towering over his mother, who was curled into a ball on the ground, cowering before the drunk man.

With his nostrils flaring and heart hammering against his chest, rage coursing through his blood veins, Kai lunged at the man and caught the hand before it could strike his mother a second time.

Twisting the man’s wrist brutally, Kai shoved him back and put himself between his parents. “You get the fuck away from her!” he roared at his father.

The man retaliated by grabbing an empty pot from the ground and smashing it against a side of Kai’s head. It was nothing compared to all the pain the man had inflicted on Kai over the years. Sometimes, the wounds would not heal for weeks. When Kai was a lot younger, it would be difficult for him to fall asleep as his wounds would keep him up all night.

Now, he was bigger, taller, and stronger. He could take the hit _and_ also the hit that was meant for his mother. Someday, he hoped to put a fist through his father’s skull until it shattered.

“She is a nasty bitch, and you are the son of that bitch,” spat his father, slurring as he turned around and toddled out of there.

Kai stood steadily, chest puffed out, hands curled into tight fists at his sides, jaw clenched.

“Kai,” his mother cried as she scrambled up to her feet. Grabbing hold of his arms, she quickly examined the side of his head that had just been struck. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine, Mum,” Kai groaned, taking her shoulders.

One of her cheeks was bruised. He wanted to kill that abusive asshole. If it were up to him, he would have taught that bastard a lesson a long time ago, father or not. But his mother loved that man. He never knew why, but she wanted the bastard. She wanted to live with that bastard. Well, she was not very clever, was she?

“You should have that looked at,” he said, cupping the cheek. His mother winced with tears welled up in her bloodshot eyes when he swiped his thumb over the bruise as gently as he could.

Then sighing, he pulled away from her, shaking his head.

“You are going to keep getting hit for as long as you live with that asshole,” he spat and stomped out of the hut.

He needed some fresh air.

When he walked out onto the street, he was surprised to find it mostly empty. The morning bustle and hubbub were absent this morning. He blinked blankly, scratching the back of his head.

“Kai!”

He turned to look at Jee who was running towards him. Kai raised a curious brow. “Jee? Why are you running like you are being chased by a—”

“Kai!” Jee cried when he stopped before Kai, completely out of breath. He must have run all the way here. Tears began to stream down his face, taking Kai aback.

For a moment, Kai was unable to process the sight before him. “What are you crying for?”

“T-Tony,” the lad stuttered out, choking on sobs. “H-He is…”

Kai grabbed Jee’s tunic and yanked him forward. “Will you stop crying and talk? What about Tony?”

“Come.” Turning on his heel, he started running toward the next street.

Kai, puzzled, followed him.

As he neared the street, he could hear a cacophony of whispers and murmurs. He was not sure what had happened, or what had gathered the townspeople all in one place. He jostled through the stupefied crowd behind Jee, wondering what was going on.

He came to a halt when he finally saw what had the townspeople gawking and gossiping.

The horror that was laid out before him snatched every last silver of his breath away. His heart was ready to jump out of his chest. Blood pulsed in his temples and throat as all life drained from his limbs.

Tony…

A murder of crows winged across the sky when Kai craned his head up to look at his friend’s lifeless cold body that was hanging from the pole, a rope tightened around his neck. The horror of it all coiled around Kai like a preying snake.

His stomach turned to knots, and he almost heaved as his head spun. He dropped to his knees as the world spun around him.

“I heard that the whoreson is a cocksucker,” someone whispered in the crowd. “I cannot believe he hanged himself.”

It was the first time Kai had cried in a very long time. And it suffocated him.

Soon the agony turned into something even more painful. Rage.

* * *

CHAPTER TWO

A few weeks after that unfortunate day…

They sat in the tavern, staring at the empty seat.

The death of their very close friend had aggrieved them all for weeks. It was murder. No one had the courage to call it what it was, though. They all feared a fate same as Tony if they uttered a word against the High Priest.

Rubbing his forehead, Kai huffed heavily at one point.

“I saw Tony’s mother the other day,” said Carrot.

Kai knocked back another tankard of mead.

“She… looked terrible,” he added. “She cried when I spoke with her. She said that she did not know what could have made him want to kill himself.”

Kai slammed the tankard on the table. “Shut it,” he spat. “You know it, I know it. Everyone in this fucking shithole knows that he did not kill himself! Call it as it is. A murder.”

With that, he rose from his seat before storming out of the tavern. He could not hear about Tony again. When he was outside, standing in the cold of the night, he rubbed his eyes. When he opened them again, he looked up the hill, scowling at the temple that sat there safe and sound.

Perhaps it was the mead that prompted him to start marching towards it, but he did not want to stop. He wanted to do something to avenge his dead friend who was murdered so heartlessly. The people of Greywater saw it a just punishment meted out to degenerate who had stepped out of line. No disrespect to the High Priest or the temple would be tolerated in this town. But Tony’s only crime had been his love for the High Priest’s son.

He kicked a rock in his path and sent it flying. Tony was an idiot. That was all that he was. A pathetic, moony-eyed idiot, who believed in fairy tales and happily-ever-afters. And where did all that take him? He got hanged in the dead of the night by the High Priest’s men. This was what happened to the ‘filth’ who wanted touch the ‘pure’.

Kai had never wanted to dirty the ‘pure’ as much as he did now. Was that not the only reason why Tony was executed? The differences between the two classes? There was the echelon that lived in the heavens with the grace of the God. Then there was the echelon that dwelled in the mud with permanent squalor blanketing it.

Overcome by the desire to taint that purity that was met with reverence by most, Kai stomped towards the temple. Instead of going up the staircase that led to the temple on the hill, Kai climbed his way through the copses of trees that surrounded the hill. Though the night was chilly, clambering up the hill, stumbling a few times over the tree roots, and dodging the branches blindly soon had him sweating. He rolled the sleeves of his shirt, which was unlaced by the chest, up to his elbows and ran his fingers through his hair that was damp with sweat.

By the time he reached the outer walls of the temple, he glanced around in the dark, keeping an eye out for the temple guards. There wasn’t any around. Not in this part of the temple. But then again, no one would be expecting anyone from the town to trespass the hallowed grounds at this hour of the day.

He thought of Tony’s burial ceremony. None of the townspeople came. They were either all too afraid of making an enemy of the High Priest, or they all simply thought of Tony’s death as good riddance. Either way, it was a quiet and lonely burial service.

The worst part of it all was the fact that it had sprouted out of something so trivial and insignificant. It could have been anyone.

Death was not an uncommon thing in Greywater. Any ‘filth’ who dared break the rules where the elites were concerned was executed with no questions asked. Kai knew exactly what he was risking as the climbed over the temple walls.

If caught, his fate would be the same as Tony’s. He did not care. There was not much that he could lose.

Of course, there was his mother. But she could make do without him in this world.

Perhaps he just had a little too much to drink.

As he jumped off the top of the wall and landed on the ground, he quickly looked around him to make sure that he had not alerted anyone. One of the temple guards was yawning by the gates.

Straightening up, Kai then glanced to the bushes. He adopted a crouch and stuck his hand into the soil. Grabbing a handful of the damp loam, he rose back to his full height and started for the entrance of the building.

He would love to see the look on the High Priest’s face when he found the sacrilege tomorrow morning, his God dirtied with this very filth the ‘pure’ feared and repulsed.

When he pushed through the gap between the open doors, he spied the candleflames that were flickering on the altar. Gripping the loam in his hand, he started for the shrine, teeth clenched.

However, he was brought to an abrupt halt as his eyes widened. He was not sure if the mead had gotten to his head and he was seeing things, or if he were actually seeing a ghost.

He blinked his eyes a few times to clear his vision.

It was no ghost, he realized after a moment.

It was a boy, clad in a white tunic, kneeling on the floor with his hands clasped together near his chest, facing the shrine. Kai could not really tell if he recognized the boy as the boy had the back of his head turned to him.

Kai started to spin around to slip out the doors through which he had walked in, but he stopped once again when the boy rose to his feet. He wiped his cheeks, as though to wipe away some tears, and held his hands together, looking up at the shrine.

Kai’s jaw fell slack when he recognized the boy at last.

The High Priest’s son.

The lad Tony had liked. The reason why Tony was now dead. The ‘pure’ that had killed the ‘filth’ Kai had cared about.

Actually, there was something even more precious to the High Priest than the shrine. What was purer and cleaner than this boy, who was graced with all the beauty in the world? He was untouched, innocence cascading from his very gaze.

Kai dropped the soil in his hand and continued to glare at the lad, eyes almost unblinking.

Sehun eventually turned around, head held low. He looked upset about something. Of course, no one came to the temple in the dead of the night unless they needed solace from God. Even in the dim light the candles provided, Kai could grasp the boy’s ashen and puffy face. He must have been crying.

When the boy finally raised his head, noticing the intrusion at long last, his bloodshot eyes bulged out, his lips parting in shock.

For a moment, Kai thought that he might scream for the temple guards.

But all that the boy did was gawk at Kai, as though Kai were a spectre. Even now, the shrine of the God paled in the face of Sehun’s innocence and beauty. Part of Kai almost wanted to believe that the High Priest was right to punish all that laid eyes on his son.

The boy’s skin looked pearlescent under the gentle brightness of the candleflame. The white tunic was slightly oversized that it was sagging by the shoulders, revealing the hollows of his sharp collarbones. He also had a long, slim neck and a protruding laryngeal prominence. There was no doubt that he was the single most beautiful person Kai had ever encountered. He had certainly never met a lad who was as beautiful. He doubted that even the lasses in Greywater could compete with the virtue that dripped from Sehun’s existence.

It would be so easy to fall for someone who liked he was the progeny of an angel. It was almost hard to believe that he was born from the seed of a man like the High Priest.

Kai could not blame Tony for wanting the best. After all, boys like them could only desire such things. Never attain them.

The High Priest’s son continued to gape at Kai without turning a single hair. He almost looked petrified. Then eventually, his gaze moved. His eyes drooped along Kai’s body, raking the sweat-slicked chest that was exposed by the half-laced shirt. Not even the dimness of the altar could hide the crimson that coloured the boy’s cheeks then.

Kai saw his revenge right there. The High Priest ordered his men to hang his friend for pledging his love for his son. What would the repulsive man do if he found out that a ‘filth’ had laid his hands on his precious, beautiful son?

Kai did not have to go too far. All that he had to do was put a hand on the boy. Literally. He would have touched the purest of them all.

When he started crossing the room, stomping toward the altar, the boy stood his ground, though his chest began to heave. His eyes widened as Kai advanced towards him at a furious pace. Even then, he did not call for the temple guards.

With only a couple of feet distancing them now, Kai lunged at the boy, a hand flying up to Sehun’s neck.

Gasping lightly, the boy stumbled back as Kai clutched at his neck with the hand that was dirtied by the damp soil he had been holding a moment ago.

Then shoving the boy back until he was slammed against the shrine, Kai brought his other hand up, fisted and cocked, ready to plunge it into the High Priest’s son’s pretty face.

The boy winced and clenched his watery eyes, bracing himself for the forthcoming blow.

With only a few inches between his fist and Sehun’s face, Kai stopped himself, huffing heavily. He then paused for a long minute to examine the boy’s face up close.

Holy shit. Not only had he just touched one of the ‘pure’ ones. He had the boy in his grip. And Sehun did nothing to fight back. He looked scared, nonetheless. His shoulders were shivering, his lips quivering.

He was so much more beautiful up close. And he smelled of lilacs and berries. Kai grimaced, blinking confusedly. He had committed countless bad deeds. But something was stopping him from committing this one, even though he was overcome by the hunger for vengeance.

His hand loosened around the panting boy’s neck. Sehun’s eyes then fluttered open slowly. His beautiful eyelashes were clumped together by the tears. His gaze rose and met Kai’s. For a moment, Kai could not look away.

As his hand unconsciously released Sehun’s neck, it dropped down to the boy’s collarbones, leaving a trail of the soil behind on his cream-white skin. Kai swallowed hard as his eyes fell on Sehun’s trembling, parted lips. They looked a little swollen and red, possibly from all the crying.

With his fingers now resting against Sehun’s collarbones, Kai began to lean in, head tilting forward, eyes falling heavy. He was no longer sure if it were the doing of the intoxication caused by the mead. Perhaps it was caused by something else.

The boy’s hands rose to Kai’s chest that was bared as a small gasp died on his lips when Kai silenced them with his own. God, they were the softest lips he had ever kissed.

It was a chaste kiss, but Kai could already tell that Sehun’s lips were inexperienced by the way they remained quivering yet unmoving. Nonetheless, their lips fitted so perfectly like spliced vines that Kai was almost reluctant to pull back, even though he was running out of breath.

Sehun’s fingers were burning against Kai’s bare chest as they trembled. When Kai opened his eyes, he realized that the boy had his shut tightly.

As though he were stung, Kai broke the kiss and backed away, staggering a few steps. He stared at the boy, whose eyes flung open to gawk at him again. For moments, none of them moved a muscle as they continued to stare at each other, both panting lightly for air.

Fuck, that was not the plan, was it?

Kai licked his lips while the High Priest’s son raised his fingers to brush them against his own lips as if to make sure that the kiss had been real and that those lips had just been kissed. By a ‘filth’. Oddly enough, he did not look upset. Just… very intrigued and astounded. He brushed his lips a few more times with his fingers, blinking his eyes rapidly in something akin to confusion. Then he looked up at Kai, eyes glistening with fresh tears.

Shit, shit, shit. Kai was sure to be executed now. This might just be his last night on earth.

He turned around to run out of there.

But then he stopped. Why should he run away? He was not afraid of shit, was he? Gripping his fists, he turned to face the boy once more.

“Why don’t you go tattle to your daddy about what I just did to you?” he spat at the boy, who stood there with his fingers still to his lips. He eventually lowered his hand to his chest and curled it around the tunic there. “I live by the hut near the southeast well. My name is Kai. And tell him I said, fuck you.”

Sehun winced as though the profanity uttered in the house of God had burnt him.

Kai then walked out of the doors with his heart hammering against his chest. He tried to stop it from beating so fast and loud. One would believe that he had a death wish. But perhaps he simply wanted to put up a front to impress the boy. Perhaps he wanted to show off that he was braver than anyone.

When he arrived at home later that night, he dropped to a seat on the ground outside the hut. Then lying down on the cold, dirty ground, he draped an arm over his eyes. He would await the temple guards on the threshold of his house.

* * *

“Where have you been?”

As soon as he stepped into the longhouse, he stumbled into his mother in the hallway. “Mother,” he murmured, keeping his head hung.

His mother closed the distance between them, approaching him with a pair of furrowed brows. “Where were you, Sehun?” she asked again. “At this hour.”

He decided to tell her the truth. That was what he was taught. To be honest to everyone at all times. That was what the God wanted. Honestly. He was not allowed to lie. Even as a very small child, he was told that all his lies would be heard by the one almighty, and He would mete out dire punishments to liars.

Sehun could count on one hand the number of times he had lied in his life. And even then, those were incredibly small white lies. For instance, telling his mother that he did not know where a book he had clearly misplaced was when he was a child.

“The temple, Mother,” he said, still keeping his gaze and head low.

His mother’s frown deepened. She took hold of his chin and lifted it so that she could see his eyes. “My child,” she said sympathetically. “Are you still holding onto your guilt? I have told you many a time. That lad’s execution was not your doing.”

No matter what she or anyone else told him, he knew the truth. And the guilt would gnaw at his conscience for as long as he was to breathe. That was the horrible part. Not even the God he worshipped with his life could ease his guilt and grief.

“Your father would not approve of your grieving for that gamin,” said his mother.

Sehun winced, not wanting to hear insults lobbed at a dead boy. He closed his eyes momentarily, trying to compose himself to stop the tears from betraying his eyes.

“My God, what has happened to you?” asked his mother, finally noticing the dirt stains on Sehun’s neck and collarbones.

Sehun reflexively brought his fingers to his neck and brushed them against the dried dirt on his skin. “Nothing for you to worry about, Mother,” he said, a lump rising in his throat. “I tripped and fell.”

“Dearie, are you hurt?”

Sehun shook his head. “If you will excuse me, I would like to take a bath and get to bed.”

“Please, do so. It is getting really late. I do not want you running into your father like this.”

Wishing her a good night, Sehun proceeded toward his room, avoiding the hallway that led to the prayer room, where his father most likely was. He was there every night before going to sleep, making sure that everything was in place.

Bursting into his room, Sehun quickly shut the door behind him and locked it before slumping his back against it, taking in a few deep breaths. His heart had not stopped thundering since he left the temple. He was dreading that someone might have seen him.

Seen him… and the boy.

Kai, he had said his name was.

And he lived nearby the southeast well.

Sehun slid down the door and fell to the floor, where he hugged his knees to his chest and buried his face in them, breaking into tears again.

It was a boy. A boy had kissed him.

All his life, he was taught that the people from the lower caste were vile and filthy, and that he, who was a follower of the God’s teaching, should never be associated with them. He should never be touched by the likes of them. They were lowly beings compared to the class Sehun was born into.

But tonight, not only had he been touched by one of them, his… first kiss was stolen, _taken_ by the roughest, rowdiest boy Sehun had ever seen. He could not get the image of the boy out of his head. Or the musky, earthy scent that was clinging to the boy’s tan skin.

Sehun had first seen him that horrid night some weeks ago. Even then, there had been this certain spark about him that made Sehun’s throat close and heart pound. His gaze…

It still felt surreal. Sehun could not wrap his head around the fact that someone had dared break into the temple, put his dirtied hand around the High Priest’s son, and then… kiss him.

Right on the mouth.

God. It was not even the worst part of it all. It was the fact that Sehun had not pushed the boy away as he was being held and kissed. And the fact that the kiss had completely entranced him.

Who was he? How could he be so daring? It was almost as though he was suicidal, and he wanted to challenge death itself.

Sehun raised his fingers to his lips and felt them, recalling the warmth of Kai’s chapped lips upon them. It was wrong. So wrong to even think about the kiss. He should tell his father. He should have called for the temple guards. But here he was, crying because he was scared and confused.

His breathing was harsh and shallow. He looked at his palms and thought about the heat of the boy’s chest when he had touched it.

What would his father do to him if he found out that Sehun had kissed a boy? Not just any boy. A boy of the ‘filth’. And a scoundrel at that. A good-for-nothing rogue. It did not take much to recognize one. The clothes he wore, the unruly hair he sported, and the scars on his knuckles and jaw. He must have been in quite a few street fights to be bearing those markings.

When he was about to walk out of the temple, he had faced Sehun one last time with a complacent glow about him. He looked… proud to have tainted Sehun. To have touched him, dirtied him, left him with a memory he could never forget. His first kiss… Taken.

And Sehun could not stop thinking about it. Or him. Or his hot mouth that had asserted its dominance over Sehun’s, which was an embarrassing novice.

He wondered if he would see the boy again. Something told him that he just might.

Guaranteed that his father did not find out about what had just happened.

* * *

Kai woke a brutal awakening.

The splash of cold water roused every one of his senses as he jolted up and gasped, unsure of what had exactly hit him. Then wiping his face, he shivered at his soaked clothes and looked up at the woman standing near him with a wooden pail and an angry moue.

“Mum!” he yapped, scurrying up to his feet.

“Thought that ought to wake you up,” his mother spat, shaking her head. Kai looked around at the neighbours, who were also shaking their heads at him.

“You are insane, woman,” Kai growled, running a hand through his wet hair.

“Could you not have passed out inside the house? Were you that pissed? How much did you have to drink that you fell asleep on the road like a mongrel?”

Groaning, Kai began to walk into the hut. “Did your husband come home last night? Maybe you should worry about that.”

“Mr. Lott has a job for you at his meat shop.”

Kai stopped to look back at his mother with an arched eyebrow. “Say what now?”

“He says he could use some help at the shop. He is a little shorthanded. You will go there today and speak to him about it.”

“How much is he paying?”

“Certainly more than what you are making now.” The sarcasm in her tone was cutting. Kai shrugged.

“Fine. If you’ll have me be a butcher’s boy.”

“At least you will have something to land on.”

“Were you at the tavern last night?”

Kai stopped in his tracks then, eyes almost popping out of their sockets as he tried to recall the events of last night.

He _was_ at the tavern last night. With Carrot and Jee. He remembered them talking about Tony. And he remembered drinking more than he should have because after that, everything was a little hazy.

But he definitely remembered climbing over the temple walls and breaking into the temple and…

“_Shit_,” he hissed under his breath as it dawned on him. Fucking idiot.

Maybe it did not happen. Maybe he had indeed been too sloshed last night that he was remembering things that did not happen.

No, no. It could not have happened, could it? Because if he _had_ touched the High Priest’s son and fucking kissed him, he would have been dead already. But he was not. He was still in one piece and breathing.

So, he probably was just imagining things.

Ridiculous things.

Was it a dream then? How could he know exactly what that boy’s lips tasted like if it were a dream? How could a dream feel so real that his heart was racing at the thought of the boy? How could he remember Sehun’s face so clearly like it was etched to his mind?

Shit. It had happened. He had kissed Sehun, the High Priest’s son, the purest thing Kai would ever touch in his lifetime.

And he felt like crap about it.

Was it not supposed to feel good? To taint a ‘pure’? But instead, bile rose in his throat and made his mouth bitter. He had taken the boy’s innocence in a way, and it did not feel as good as it was supposed to.

“Oi,” called his mother when she found him standing paralyzed in the doorway. “Something on your mind?”

His mother would give him a good beating and possibly kill him before the temple guards or the High Priest could if she knew what Kai had done last night.

He shook his head and wended his way inside.

* * *

CHAPTER THREE

Mr. Lot welcomed him with a grouchy, spiteful glower when he walked into the butcher’s shop. Kai’s nose was all scrunched up at the foul fetor the premise reeked with bones and blood on the floor and walls.

“Hi,” Kai said to the butcher, who crossed his arms over the chest, eyeing Kai from head to toe. “Mum said that you wanted to offer me a job?”

“Aye,” said Mr. Lot gruffly. The man looked rather intimidating, shoulders wide, arms packed with muscles. He was also a baldhead. “I’m in need of a delivery boy.”

“You want me to deliver… meat?” asked Kai, looking around the shop, grimacing a little at the grisly sight of bleeding meat hanging on hooks.

The butcher huffed in response. “You must pick the packages up from the slaughterhouse and bring them over whenever they are ready.”

That sounded like a boring job. But Kai sighed and nodded his head. He ought to bring home some bread now that he was turning eighteen. And his mother was right. This job was not much, and it stank, but at least he would have something to fall back on.

“I don’t want no attitude from you,” said the butcher. “I’ve heard about you and how you go rompin’ about like a goddamn varmint that owns the world.”

Kai almost rolled his eyes, but he held the urge back.

“I am only doing this for yer mother.”

Kai arched an eyebrow at the man, then. Why would a butcher want to do his mother a favour? Perhaps he had a little affection for the woman. Kai did not mind. His mother, though slow-witted, was as pretty as a pinup and was kind. Men would love to offer her favours.

However, she only had eyes for her husband, that wretched drunkard, who did not deserve her.

“Thanks.” Kai rubbed the back of his neck. Well, a few days in this smelly rathole, and he might just get used to the stench. “Got anything for me today?”

“While you’re here, try not to get smart with me. Patience is not my strongest suit.” He turned to entertain a customer. “Head over to the slaughterhouse. You will be given a package.”

Kai started for the slaughterhouse without another question.

* * *

“You are late for breakfast,” said his father when Sehun sat down at the table with his mother, stepmothers, and stepsisters. His father raised his head and pinned Sehun with a sharp glare.

“Forgive me,” said Sehun, bowing his head. “I had overslept, Father.”

“And missed your morning prayers,” spat the man.

Sehun felt his insides twist and turn in discomfort. He had indeed overslept and missed his morning prayers with his family. Though it was not the first time he had accidentally done it, the disappointment in his father’s expression knifed at his heart all the same.

He had lain awake for most of the night, thinking about things he should not at any hour of the day. Sinful, horrible things that should make him feel dirty. But it did not. And neither did those hands that had touched him last night in the temple nor those lips that had pressed against Sehun’s.

He went to sleep believing that when he woke in the morning, it would all be like a dream. But it only felt more real now. Part of Sehun wanted to confront that bold, incredibly gutsy yet arrogant scoundrel for what he had done to Sehun and his mind… and heart.

“I am sorry, Father,” he muttered with his head hung low.

“I heard from the temple guards that you were up there late at night last night,” said his father.

Sehun looked to his mother, who had her lips pursed. Then he glanced to his scowling father, whose patience was growing thin. “I just… wanted to pray, Father. I have been having some sleepless nights.”

His father slammed a fist on the table then. Everyone else jumped with a start in their seats, including Sehun. “If it is because of that wretched whoreson, you best not be going to the God, begging for your guilt to be washed away.”

Sehun’s eyes stung with tears. “I cannot help my feelings, Father.”

“The cocksucker got what he deserved. If you sulk about it for a minute longer, I will not tolerate it. Am I understood?”

Sehun gave a shaky nod of his head. Even though he was reaching the age of eighteen soon, he found it difficult to voice out his grievances to his father. He should respect his elders, especially his parents. But what he had for his father was not respect. It was fear.

His father was a murderer.

“Eat some,” said his mother, placing some roasted sweet potatoes on his plate. Everything on the table was either vegetables or beans. Sehun had the appetite for neither.

“I would like to be excused,” he said.

“Sehun,” his mother murmured.

Sehun tried to keep his tears from falling as he rose from his seat and bowed his head to his father once more before making his way out of the dining hall.

Then grabbing a cloak, he meandered his way toward the town.

The hut by the southeast well. That was where he would find the scoundrel.

* * *

By the time Kai was allowed to go home, nightfall had descended upon the town, cursing the streets with its darkness.

“That is yer wage for today,” spat the butcher, handing Kai two coins. “Don’t spend it all on ale and strumpets, mind you. Be here tomorrow sharp at seven. Do not be late.”

“Thanks,” said Kai, pocketing those coins. He would give them to his mother when he reached home. He picked up a rag and wiped off the meat blood from his fingers before he strutted out of the butcher’s shop, heading home.

Normally, at this hour, he would be at the tavern, looting bottles of ale. Or he would be wooing some lass, hoping to get lucky. But he was a little too exhausted tonight to do any of that. And _very_ hungry. He could not wait to get home and feast on the cold, bland pottage.

But as he neared the hut, his gaze darted to the slim figure near the well, perched on the edge of it, a dark green cloak wrapped around its shoulders, a cowl pulled over its head.

It had to be a man. Or a lad, judging by the height of the figure.

Shit. Was he here for Kai? It did not look like a temple guard. Perhaps a hired henchman?

“Who’s there?” Kai called out, hands fisted, ready for a fight.

Noticing his presence, the man pulled away from the well and stood still for a few moments, staring at Kai. Then drawing the cowl down, he revealed his face.

Under the gentle moonlight, his florid cheeks shimmered like the radiant surface of a pearl. The thin sheen of saliva on his rosy pink lips had a red-hot memory gushing into Kai’s mind, the taste of those lips returning to him like the lines to a forgotten melody.

“You,” he let out almost breathlessly.

The High Priest’s son looked away, blushing fiercely. The way he blushed almost made Kai blush.

“Well, I was hoping that you were only a dream,” said Kai, taking a few steps toward the boy.

Sehun raised his head and looked at him with a dreadful expression. “Don’t get any closer,” he said in a raspy breath.

Kai halted in his tracks. Not because the boy had ordered him to do that. But because he realized that it was the first time he heard the boy’s voice. And it was as beautiful as his appearance.

“So, it speaks,” Kai scoffed to hide the fluster in his response.

“Y-You…” the boy began but trailed off, gawking at Kai shyly.

“I?”

When Kai took another step forward, Sehun retreated. “I… came to… confront you,” he then said, keeping his eyes on the ground. “F-For… what you did.”

Kai stopped with a cocked brow and tilted his head a little to the side. “Well then. Confront me.”

The boy’s face reddened. He looked like he was choking on a breath as he searched for his next words. Kai smirked, delighting in Sehun’s state of agitation. It was cute.

“I… I want to why,” Sehun then said quietly, looking around as though to make sure that no one was spectating their exchange.

“Why what?” Kai asked, shrugging.

Sehun looked up at him then, eyebrows furrowed slightly in frustration. “Do not play coy,” he said, struggling to get his words out. “I want to know why you… did that. What have I done to you?”

Kai sighed. “Is that why you are here?”

Sehun nodded his head nervously. That was cute, too. “I wanted to confront you for… taking my… first kiss.”

_Holy fuck._

“Oh,” Kai snorted and began to close the distance between them. “I see.”

With a tiny gasp, the High Priest’s son withdrew, his steps stumbling and stopped when his back was pressed against the well. He then looked at Kai with wide eyes that were filled with both curiosity and worry.

He shuddered when Kai brought his hands to the edge of the well behind the boy and bent a little, holding the well on either side of the boy’s waist. Now trapped between Kai’s arms, Sehun started to pant lightly.

“I did not know it was your first kiss,” Kai said cockily and curled his lower lip between his teeth. The boy’s cheeks crimsoned even more. “I did not mean to take it. So, if it bothered it you so much, you can have it back.”

Sehun’s breathing quickened noticeably, and he turned his face away, as though to hide his lips from Kai. “Wh-What does that mean?”

“You know what it means. If you don’t want me to keep your first kiss, why don’t you take it back, priest boy?”

Although this was not Kai’s first time flirting so blatantly with someone, Sehun was quite frankly the first boy who was reacting so fiercely. But then again, Kai figured all virgins would.

“I… I don’t want to… take it back,” Sehun mumbled shakily, still not meeting Kai’s gaze. He smelled of lilacs and berries today, too. The fragrance filled Kai’s nose. It was a nice change compared to the horse shit and mud he smelled all day.

Letting out a heavy breath, Kai straightened up and retrieved his hands. “And here I thought you were brave.”

Sehun looked to him with a frown now. “I-I am brave.”

“Then why haven’t you told your father about how I had pinned you against his God’s shrine and kissed you?”

Sehun blushed again, hands clenched at his sides. It was as though he were embarrassed listening to the way Kai talked without an ounce of shame. “How do you know that I haven’t?”

Kai carded his fingers through his hair. “Because if you had,” he said, stepping closer. Sehun lowered his eyes as Kai almost pressed himself up against the boy. “I would already be dead like my friend, wouldn’t I?”

Sehun raised his gaze then, and his eyes met Kai’s. And when they did, they were full of horror and guilt. But he knew. Kai knew that Sehun knew. About Tony. About everything.

“Tell you what,” Kai then said, backing away. “If you really are brave, then come meet me under the old bridge tomorrow at midnight. Perhaps I will tell you then why I did what I did to you.”

“Wait,” he rasped when Kai began to turn around. “I will not… be coming.”

Kai fixed him with a lopsided grin. “I think you will, priest boy.”

“I am not a priest.”

“And I don’t care. You’re all the same pathetic toffee-nosed jerks, who think of the downtrodden as filth.”

Sehun’s eyes turned sad then. “You think you have us all pegged? Do you think you are better than us? What you did at the temple… does not make you a man.”

Kai let out a laugh. The boy scowled, taking offence. “Sweet pea, I know the kind of snooty, uppity lads the likes of you hang out with. Trust me. I’m the _only_ man you have met.”

With that, he turned on his heel and headed for the hut, hands plunged into the pockets of his trousers. When he glanced back at Sehun, the boy was frowning at the ground, lost in his thoughts, looking flustered and conflicted.

* * *

Arrogant, atrocious, unbearable. That was what the boy was. Sehun had gone there expecting an apology of some sort. But what he had gotten was an insult.

Ugh, what was he thinking? How could he anticipate an apology from a rude, vulgar, unmannered oaf?!

Lounging on his bed, Sehun tossed and turned sleeplessly. Then a long hour later, he lay still, staring at the canopy of his bed.

Did he really go to see the scoundrel for an explanation or an apology? Or was he lying to himself?

Kai was right. Why had Sehun not told his father about what had happened? For one, he did not want to be the cause of one more death, no matter how loutish and ill-bred that person was. He did not think that he could go on with another mark like that on his conscience.

However, on the other hand, he was certain that there was something else. Another reason for his boldness to go looking for the peasant boy, even though he knew the risks behind doing something his father would strongly disapprove of.

Whatever that reason was, it had Sehun tossing in his bed restlessly. He jolted upright with a start when the bedroom door swung open.

“Oh, it’s just you,” said one of his stepmothers, entering the room. Sehun blinked at her. “I thought we had a cat or something. Did you not go out earlier? Did you just come home?”

Sehun kept mum, gnawing at his lower lip.

“Where were you?” she inquired.

“Uh… the temple. And then I just… went for a walk in the temple garden,” he said. “I lost track of time. I’m sorry.”

That was not just a small white lie. His heart skipped a beat.

God. First, he was hiding the truth from his family. Now, he was _lying_. God, God. God. What had the thuggish scoundrel done to him?

He had tainted and contaminated Sehun, that was what he had done!

Sehun’s father was right. All the teachings were right. The non-believing would lead believers like him astray. They would influence him and lead him down an evil, sinful path.

That was exactly what that rowdy troublemaker was doing to Sehun.

How could he have been so naïve?!

“Don’t keep wandering off in the night like this,” said his father’s second wife. “Your father would get angry if he knew.”

Sehun nodded his head obediently. As soon as she had left him alone again, he fell back on the bed and covered his face with a pillow, screaming into it. He needed to stop thinking about the scoundrel. Nothing good would come out remembering how the bloody tearaway had smirked at him. Or how his skin had smelled. Like fresh loam, like the rain… with a hint of meat, which was new.

Taking the pillow off his face, he drew a few deep breaths.

_Come meet me under the old bridge tomorrow at midnight_.

“I will not go,” he muttered to himself, though his own voice did not sound so convincing.

_I think you will, priest boy._

Sehun bit his lip. When he looked down, he blinked at his hand that was clutching at his crotch. His heart began to pound against his ribs.

It was wrong. _Wrong_.

It was not that he had never tried it before. As a younger, curious lad, he could not help himself. He had let his hands wander a few times on his body experimentally. Sometimes, he felt so good that he thought that the sin was worth it. But as he grew older, he decided that he should wait until marriage, as he was taught. One day, he would have a wife.

Now, he was unconsciously touching himself, his knob hardening inside his trousers, at the burning hot memory of a… boy.

Oh, Lord. He was going to hell for this.

He retrieved his hand and sat up, swallowing hard.

If he went to the old bridge tomorrow at midnight, would the scoundrel be there? What if he were playing Sehun? What if it were all just a game, and he was setting a trap of some sort?

Only one way to find out, Sehun presumed.

* * *

He might be right about it being just a game. He had been waiting for nearly an hour past midnight under the old bridge. The river that used to course under the bridge was almost dried up now.

Sehun tossed another pebble into the shallow puddles of water from he sat perched on a boulder. He hoped no one back at home noticed his absence. It was not all that difficult to sneak out from the house with everyone asleep. And it was just as easy to wander through the town. No one but drunkards, skirt-chasers, lovers, and poets were awake at this time of the night.

Which one of those was Sehun since he was here, waiting for a lad, who had left a print on his mind and heart like no one else had managed to in all the years Sehun had been alive?

He had not met anyone as bold as the fearless rogue before.

With disappointment weighing his heart down, Sehun rose from the boulder and decided to head back home, even though part of him wanted to stay here until dawn for the boy to show up. But he did not want to push his luck.

He froze when he turned around and found Kai leaning against a post under the bridge on the other side with his arms folded over his chest and a smug, well pleased smirk etched to his lips.

Sehun’s heart stopped beating for a second.

Then pulling away from the wooden post, Kai started walking toward Sehun. His shirt was not laced at the top, exposing the deep cleft of his toned chest. Sehun tried not to stare at it, but he could not help it.

He had been acquainted with plenty of well-dressed boys his age. But none had caught his attention the way this unruly, undisciplined rowdy, who could not even bother to lace up properly, did. No boy had made him choke like this. None had made him blush.

“I thought you said you wouldn’t come,” said Kai as he approached Sehun.

As he edged closer, Sehun noticed the blood stains on Kai’s shirt and the rag wrapped around one of the scoundrel’s hands.

Gasping, Sehun covered his mouth. “What happened to you?”

Kai looked down at his shirt. “Oh. Not my blood.”

Sehun started at him in horror. “Then whose is it?”

Shrugging nonchalantly, Kai said, “Either a pig’s or the son of a bitch I was cuffing a while ago in the alley. Might have broken a knuckle or two.” He took a brief look at the back of his hand and sighed heavily.

Sehun could not believe his ears. He did not know which sounded worse.

“What do you look so squeamish for?” asked Kai. “Don’t tell me you have never gotten into a fight before.”

Sehun shook his head, throat closing with nausea. “I never have.”

“Right. I forgot that you are a pampered little princess.”

“P-Pig’s blood?”

“What about it?”

“Is that why you smell like… meat?”

Kai came closer. Sehun, surprisingly enough, did not have the urge to back away. “And what is the problem with that?”

Sehun looked away. “I’m a vegetarian.”

Kai was smirking when Sehun faced him again. “Seems like I am the villain in your story, priest boy.” He closed what little gap there was between them. Sehun tried not to flinch. “Worlds apart. Yet here you are, meeting me under the old bridge at midnight. Why?”

Sehun felt a strong grip around his neck that made it difficult to speak. He could not look at the boy’s eyes, but at the same time, he did not want to look away. Kai must really be a demon.

“You… said that you… would tell me why… you… you kissed me if I came. And I am brave. I am not afraid of coming here.”

“And yet you could not even look me in the eye.”

That struck Sehun dumb for a moment.

“All right,” Kai sighed. “Why don’t you answer one of my questions first, and I will answer yours.”

Sehun swallowed and waited.

“Why have you not told anyone?” he asked.

Sehun did not think that he had the answer to that. And even if he did, he did not know how to say it out loud.

“Certainly, you do not care about me,” said Kai. “You do not even know me.”

He was right. Sehun knew nothing of the boy except that he was a hooligan. So, why was he here, blushing at the sheer presence of Kai?

“I do not have to answer any of your questions,” Sehun muttered at length. “You owe me an explanation. You were the one who… kissed me.” He felt like a child, refusing to utter the last two words of the sentence any louder than a whisper, as though they were blasphemous.

Kai was smirking again. Sehun worried that the scoundrel might have noticed the hesitancy in Sehun’s voice, too.

“Very well,” said the dark-haired boy. “As I said, if the kiss bothered you so much, why don’t you take it back?”

Sehun finally raised a hand to Kai’s chest to stop him from advancing any further. “Has anyone told you that you are one rotten, arrogant reprobate?”

“And has anyone told _you_ that you are… beautiful?”

Sehun stilled, and so did Kai. The way Kai had said it almost seemed like he was asleep. And when he realized what he had just let slip, he blinked and looked down at Sehun’s hand that was pressed against his chest.

“Don’t feel disgusted touching a ‘filth’ like me?”

Sehun winced, fingers trembling against Kai’s warm, hard chest. His eyes bored into Kai’s then. “I do not know what you think of me. But you do not know me as well. If you did, you would not have done what you did.”

“Quite the contrary, actually,” he said, curling a hand around Sehun’s wrist. Instead of pulling Sehun’s hand away from his chest, he let it be there, his fingers lightly wrapped around the wrist. “I did it precisely because I know who you are.”

“And what is that?”

“The High Priest’s son. The person my best friend was in love with. And the reason he was killed.”

Sehun dropped his head and tried to let his hand fall from Kai’s chest. But he could not as Kai held his wrist. “Sorry would not suffice,” Sehun then said, voice breaking.

“Damn right it won’t.”

Swallowing, Sehun lifted his gaze once more. “Is that it? You wanted to taint… me out of anger and spite?”

“Do I need a better reason?”

Sehun’s eyes began to water. “Let go,” he whimpered out weakly, trying to break his wrist free from Kai’s grip. He was not sure why he was disappointed to hear that. But he supposed anybody would be inclined to be a little upset when their first kiss was stolen for the purpose of a payback.

“Not the answer you came looking for?” asked Kai with that same smugness that tore at Sehun’s heart.

With furious tears burning his eyes, Sehun glowered at him. “I am my own person. I am not just the High Priest’s son. I understand that you are grieving. Your anger and resentment are justifiable, rightfully so. But my… feelings and heart are not playthings. There aren’t many other ways worse than this to hurt me.”

Kai released his wrist then, the complacency completely gone from his face. With his jaw locked, he continued to stare earnestly into Sehun’s eyes. Sehun must have struck a nerve. His expression had turned into a blank slate.

“But you said that you do not care,” added Sehun. “If you truly believe that I was the sole reason behind your friend’s unjust and unforgiveable sentence, then there are other ways to hurt me. And you would not believe me if I told you that I did everything I possibly could to prevent it.”

He would never forget the night he had begged for his father’s mercy. Even as the man questioned his virtue, inquiring if he had already bent for the lad’s cock, Sehun had continued to kneel before his father and plead to spare the boy’s life. In the end, none of his pleas or tears had convinced his father, who had felt threatened and slighted.

“It was just a kiss,” said Kai, sounding a little flustered and frankly, annoyed.

Sehun had never been more embarrassed. He turned around to walk away. Then stopping momentarily, he said, “If you think it would be _just_ a kiss for me, then you truly are the cruellest person I have met in my life.”

* * *

As he walked away, Kai stood there, still and stiff, ears ringing a little. On one hand, he was shocked by what the boy had just told him. On the other, guilt was beginning to gnaw on the insides of his stomach.

It must have felt like the right thing to do the other night at the temple when he was drunk. It still felt good when the boy had come looking for him. But now, as Sehun walked away from him with his heart broken, clearly upset about having lost a part of his virtue, no matter how small or insignificant, to someone as careless and reckless as Kai, it felt… wrong.

Had Kai made a mistake?

As he made his way home, he brooded about what Sehun had said. Kai had touched him the other night out of spite. But he had kissed the boy because he had gone out of control. He had not been able to help it.

Even tonight, it took him all of his strength and a wounded hand to swallow the urges to lunge at Sehun and kiss him again.

On top of all that, Tony had loved Sehun. Kai should not have kissed the boy Tony had liked. No matter what.

He went to bed with his heart in turmoil. For the first time in his life, he was losing sleep over some lad.

* * *

CHAPTER FOUR

Some months later…

The chilly evening breeze that slithered in through the slits of the barn doors made way for a calming, tranquil atmosphere. As the seasons approached winter, the air was heavier than usual during sundown. Kai had no complaints. If it were up to him, he would stay here forever. But it would not bode well for him if the farmer who owned the barn found him trespassing.

Even so, it had been Kai’s idea to sneak in here. It was always Kai’s ideas to sneak into places they should not go into. And Sehun always followed.

Drawing his fingers along Sehun’s milky-white thigh, which bore splotches of faint love bites now, Kai smiled down at his lover’s tender expression as Sehun stared at him with his lovesick gaze.

“How was the honey wine?” asked Kai.

“I loved it,” Sehun whispered, dragging a hand down Kai’s chest. “Nothing like I’ve ever tasted before.”

“Well, I have tasted better,” said Kai, smirking as he leaned down to press a kiss to a side of Sehun’s neck before licking the skin there. “Hmm.”

Giggling, Sehun playfully shoved Kai back. “Are you still not done?”

“Never with you.”

“I am a little cold now.”

Kai grabbed hold of Sehun’s waist and yanked him until their bare bodies were pressed tightly together. Sehun lightly swung a leg over Kai’s, holding a side of Kai’s torso with a hand.

“Then maybe you should snuggle a little closer,” Kai purred against Sehun’s ear. “Still sore?”

Sehun shivered against him, fingers entangling themselves in Kai’s hair. When Kai brushed their lips together, he tasted a hint of the honey wine he had gotten from the _Weasel_, which they had shared after some phenomenal and memorable lovemaking on the stacks of hay in the barn, in Sehun’s sweet breath.

He felt Sehun burn up, skin to skin, as he drew a hand along Sehun’s slender waist, which he had gripped harshly a moment ago while he was thrusting into the boy, spreading him open, taking as much as he wanted. Sehun had struggled to keep quiet as always, so Kai tried to muffle his moans and cries with a hand clasped to Sehun’s mouth.

“A little,” said Sehun in a shaky breath, enveloping his legs around Kai’s waist. “But you can have me again if you want.”

Cupping a side of Sehun’s face, Kai gently swiped his thumb along his beautiful lover’s bottom lip, which was still swollen and red from all the kissing and biting Kai had abused it with.

“I just want us to stay like this for a bit longer,” murmured Kai.

Sehun’s eyelids fell heavy. He was lost in his thoughts for a moment, cheeks turning scarlet.

“What is it?” asked Kai, noticing the shift in his expression.

Sehun leaned closer until their lips were touching. Then in a whisper, he said, “I really… want you to… make love to me on a bed. Like a feather bed.”

Kai smiled. “You have grown bold. I still remember when you could not stand to hear such obscene things. Now, you voice your desires so daringly.”

“It is all _your_ doing,” said Sehun, grinding himself against Kai. Kai smirked when he felt the boy rapidly hardening as he rubbed his cock against Kai’s. “I am on my way to becoming a degenerate like you.”

Kai licked his lips and moved, so that he was now laying on top of Sehun. Then planting his hands into the hay on either side of Sehun’s head, he positioned himself between Sehun’s legs.

“And honestly,” Sehun then added. “it scares me.”

“Why?” asked Kai. Sehun pressed his hands to Kai’s back and drew them down slowly.

“You know why,” said Sehun, frowning. “As much as I find everything that I do with you thrilling, I am afraid that… we would be discovered.”

“Your father is never going to hurt you. We both know that.”

“It is not about me,” Sehun whimpered, holding Kai tight, as though he never wanted to let go.

“I don’t matter much, Sehun.”

“Please, do not say that,” said Sehun, sliding his fingers into Kai’s hair. “You… You matter so much to me. You mean… everything to me, Kai.”

That was the thing about Sehun. He felt so strongly. Good _and_ bad emotions. It was what Kai loved the most about him. It had been so easy for Sehun to fall in love with a filthy git like Kai. All it had really took was a kiss and a few words.

It had taken Kai a little longer to realize that he had fallen in love with the High Priest’s son, too.

“Do you really mean that?” asked Kai, staring into Sehun’s eyes, as though he were searching for the boy’s soul. It was not all that difficult to find. Sehun was the realest thing Kai had ever looked at. There were no layers. He was an open book. He allowed Kai to turn the pages as he wished. Kai never knew that he had needed that realness until he had met Sehun.

“I would not lie to you,” said Sehun, eyes glistening. “Why would you not believe me?”

“Because I’m a nobody. I never meant anything to anyone.”

The way their bodies were joined. Kai could not begin to describe how astonishingly they fitted together. It was as though they were made for each other, and only for each other. Kai could not believe how sappy he had gotten upon falling for this plump-lipped, soft-spoken, God-loving boy, who oddly enough lusted after the sins that would be his blight.

And Kai was an entire package of those very sins.

“I love you, Kai,” Sehun said then, cheeks flushed red, voice barely surpassing a whisper. “And I have never loved anyone before. I do not know how to not let my heart yearn for only you. In every circumstance, I will choose you.”

The confession almost drove Kai to the edge of whatever sanity that was left of him. He bowed his head and smashed their mouths together, coaxing Sehun into a rough, desperate, hungry kiss.

Then pulling back, he pressed a kiss to Sehun’s neck and said, “You wanted me to fuck you on a proper bed?”

Sehun blushed hard. Even though Kai had suborned Sehun to commit countless sins since they had first met each other, there were still certain things that Sehun was immensely shy about. For instance, the filthy, coarse words Kai used. But Kai took great pleasure in seeing him blush.

“M-hm,” Sehun let out softly, brushing his lips against Kai’s shoulder.

“Well, I do not own a feather bed,” Kai said. “This haystack is much more comfortable than the pallet I sleep on. So…”

Sehun blinked when Kai smirked at him mischievously. After months of knowing Kai, he probably knew that that smirk meant something naughty.

“It will have to be in your bed.”

Sehun’s eyes widened. “My… bed?”

“Tell you what,” said Kai, climbing off Sehun before he pulled the boy up onto his lap. Wrapping his legs loosely around Kai, Sehun held onto his shoulders, sitting on top of Kai’s lap. “Why don’t I come by your house tomorrow night?”

Sehun gasped. “No, you can’t. My family—”

“Won’t even know that I’m there. You have a window. It would not difficult for me to climb over it.”

Curling his bottom lip between his teeth, Sehun mindlessly played with Kai’s hair at the nape of the neck, pondering. “But I won’t be able to be quiet,” said Sehun, frowning. “I never can.”

Kai chuckled softly and pecked on Sehun’s lips. “You will just have to try, I guess.”

The idea excited Sehun, Kai could tell. If it did not, the boy would not be thinking about it so much. And there was this certain glow of madness in Sehun’s face every time Kai suggested or made him do something illicit and obscene.

Breaking his innocence bit by bit was undoubtedly an exhilarating thrill for the both of them.

“All right,” Sehun said at length with a shy smile.

* * *

Kai was going to hell.

He wondered what his mother would do to him if she found out that her son had taken the High Priest’s boy for a lover, and he was about to fuck the boy senseless in the High Priest’s home, while the man was praying to his God in the next room.

Quite honestly, it was starting to nag at his soul. Not the sins he was committing so willingly and deliberately. But the fact that he had made a move on the boy his dead friend had loved and lost his life for.

The guilty conscience was still tugging at his heart. The first few weeks, he had tried to stay away from Sehun in the beginning. After the night under the bridge, he could not take Sehun off his mind.

Then one thing to another, and somehow, he found himself kissing the boy under the same bridge one night, never wanting to let go of him. And Sehun had held onto him as though if he let go, his knees would give in and he would fall.

Kai had tried. He did not think that he had tried enough, but he had tried a little to stop his heart from feeling anything for the person Tony had wanted but never gotten.

Somehow, fate had decided that it was Kai who would be the one to win Sehun’s heart. But then again, Tony had never gotten the chance. Perhaps if he had, Sehun might have fallen for him.

All the months they had been together, not once had Kai talked to Sehun about Tony and just how much he had liked Sehun.

Perhaps that was what made him the guiltiest. The fact that he was pretending like he did not even know what Tony had felt for the boy.

“Kai? Are you even listening?”

He tore his vacant gaze from the half-empty tankard and looked up at Jee and Carrot.

“You seem a little distracted,” pointed out Jee. “Something on your mind, lad?”

Kai shook his head and rose from the table. “I have to get going.”

“Really? We are not even half drunk,” remarked Carrot. “Where have you been running off to these days? You barely hang out with us anymore.”

“He is right,” said Jee. “You don’t even come to the _Weasel_ as often anymore. Is something up?”

Kai rubbed the back of his neck. As much as he wanted to brag to his friends that he was not around much because he was too busy getting laid with the most beautiful person in this entire town, he simply shrugged. Not everyone needed to know about the details of his lover. In fact, Kai would rather that no one knew. Sehun was his. Secret or not. There was a satisfaction in keeping Sehun away from the dirty aspects of Kai’s life. He would not allow anything else to share him.

“Been busy at the meat shop,” he said. It was not exactly a lie. Mr. Lot had been entrusting him with more jobs. He could not complain. It paid more. His mother was happy that she no longer had to rely on Kai’s father for money. And Kai was glad that he had an income. Whatever surplus there was, he used the coins to buy some pretty things for his lover.

And boy, did Sehun appreciate every single one of them.

Kai would never forget the first time he had bought Sehun a trinket. The boy cried with tears streaming down his cheeks. Kai had not expected Sehun to react so emotionally for a cheapjack brooch. He would tear up a little every time Kai got him something. Be it flowers, gimcrack jewelleries, food. He would look at Kai with so much love and admiration in his enchanting eyes.

“Anyways, I must be on my way now. Say what, we will hang out tomorrow. And get as pissed as you two goats want,” he told his friends and began to walk away. But he stopped and looked back at the table. Pursing his lips, he fished out a coin from his pocket and tossed it onto the table.

“Whatever is that for?” asked Carrot.

“For the ale,” said Kai.

Both Jee and Carrot blinked at him blankly, as though they had just witnessed the most unthinkable action unravel before them.

“Since when do you pay for something in the _Weasel_?” rasped Carrot.

Since Kai started loving the most precious, kindest, most polite being in existence. Though Sehun liked Kai for who he was and often took pleasure in Kai’s mischief and rowdyism, he still managed to foist some of his good qualities on Kai, just as Kai was rubbing off his reckless devilry on Sehun.

When he reached the longhouse later that night, he looked for the window of Sehun’s bedroom as per the instructions and descriptions Sehun had given him. It was not all that difficult to find it.

The window was open when he found it. And a waft of scented air drifted from the bedroom. Kai’s heart was full once again. The air smelled of lilacs and berries now. It had taken Kai a while to realize that it was the fragranced oil that Sehun used for his skin.

Sehun was awaiting him.

Climbing into the room through the window, he landed on the floor with a thud and raised his head to look around the dimly lit room. Apart from the handful of lit candles, there was no other source of light. Kai caught another scent. Roses.

Holy hell, he had never been surrounded by so many pleasant-smelling things in a single place. His world was full of foul-smelling stenches. But not Sehun’s. Sehun was always surrounded by these delights. Well, when he was not with Kai.

Even then, his sweet scents overpowered Kai’s.

Kai recalled something his mother had told him a long time ago. _When a pig spends too much time in rosebushes instead of the mud, it starts to smell like the roses. _

She was right.

In this case, Kai was the pig.

“Kai,” Sehun rasped as he hurried out of his bed, leaving behind the book he had been reading before Kai had showed up. “You came.”

Kai froze, jaw falling slack, eyes bulging out. Sehun was dressed in nothing but a filmy shirt that reached his thighs. And he had not even bothered to lace it all the way up.

He rushed into Kai’s arms the same way he always did whenever he saw Kai. Cupping Sehun’s delicate face in his hands, Kai smiled at him and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

“I told you I would,” he said. “And it looks like you are all prepared. I had no idea you could be this romantic.”

“Shh,” Sehun hushed him then. “I have locked the door, but they could still hear us if we are too loud.”

Kai licked his smirking lips. He could not wait to get Sehun naked and moaning, so that he could watch the boy struggle and writhe, unable to make much noise. And something told him that Sehun was looking forward to the same thing.

“And here I mistook you for an innocent once,” mocked Kai.

Blushing, Sehun turned his face away. “I was… innocent.”

“Until I pushed you against a wall and pulled your legs around me that night and humped you dry? I still remember the way you had cried in pure ecstasy.”

Sehun’s hand flung up to cover Kai’s mouth. “Please… don’t,” he said bashfully.

Pulling the hand away, Kai collected Sehun’s waist and drew him close. “I think about that night all the time, you know?”

The very night Sehun had dared to concede the last bit of his virtue to Kai.

It was a night to remember for both of them. For Kai, it had been the night when he made a very important promise to Sehun.

A promise he intended to keep forever. At least until Sehun woke up from his love daze and realized that Kai was not worthy of his heart. Until he realized that Kai was nothing but a ‘filth’ after all.

“I cannot believe that you are actually here,” Sehun said in a whisper, gushing excitedly. “In my bedroom.”

Kai let his gaze rove around the room for a moment, taking note of the furniture, the full bookshelf, the dresser, the full-length mirror, the private bathing chamber, and the huge feather bed that had its own canopy shielding it. Hell, this was what princes must live like.

“You know,” Kai said, returning his attention back to Sehun. “I had never laid in a feather bed before, and I never thought that I would.”

That made Sehun frown sadly. “Kai… Even though I said that I want you to make love to me on a feather bed, I swear to you, I could be lying on a cold, hard ground with you, and I would not want to be anywhere else.”

Kai knew those were not just honeyed words. Sehun did not know how to sweet-talk with false bouquets. “Do you really love me that much?”

“More than I could ever tell and you would ever know,” Sehun sighed, draping his arms around Kai’s neck. “So, do you want to talk or… take me on the bed?”

“Are you sure you would want me to dirty those silk sheets of yours?”

Sehun leaned in to Kai’s ear and breathed out, “We will dirty them together. I want them to smell like you when we are done.”

Kai could not hold himself back any longer. Picking Sehun up from the floor, he gripped his lover’s thighs and bore him to the bed. Sehun held onto the back of Kai’s neck and tipped his head forward to brush the tip of their noses together, their lips parted and panting lightly. As their labouring breaths mingled, Kai gave the back of Sehun’s thighs he was holding a light squeeze, which made Sehun whimper against his lips.

Then shoving the canopy sheet aside, Kai laid Sehun down gently on the bed. Then kicking off his muddy boots, he climbed into the bed and knelt between Sehun’s legs for a moment, gnawing at his lip. As his eyes raked Sehun’s bare, fair thighs, he was overcome by the lust and thirst to pelt the insides of those thighs with bruising kisses.

Hell, he wanted to leave them on every part of Sehun’s body. Mark him.

Grabbing Sehun’s wrists then, Kai pinned them to the mattress and leaned forward. Sehun tried to push himself up so that he could kiss Kai. When Kai did not let him, his breathing quickened and he frowned, virtually begging Kai to kiss him already.

“You are mine, Sehun,” Kai said. The sudden command caught Sehun off his guard. “I don’t care who wanted you first. But you are mine now.”

Sehun blinked. Then realizing what Kai was meaning, he averted his gaze to look away from Kai for a moment. “I know… your friend… fancied me.”

“It was not just a mere attraction,” said Kai. “You heard him. Loud and clear that night. He was in love with you. And I… I must seem like a dickhead for taking you for myself after… everything.”

Sehun met his gaze then. He looked upset. “It is not always about what you or he or the others feel, Kai. I love _you_. I fell in love with _you_.”

Kai sighed. “I know. But for some reason, my conscience keeps telling me that this is…”

“Wrong?”

Kai could not say it. He could not think of Sehun as something _wrong_. Not when everything about the boy was right and real.

“Unfair,” Kai said at length.

Sehun forced himself up and brushed his lips against Kai’s. “Don’t hurt me like this, Kai,” he breathed upon Kai’s lips. “I know you feel some guilt. I do, too. But don’t think of this as a mistake. I don’t think I could bear it.”

Kai kissed Sehun then with everything he had, as though there was no tomorrow. He savoured Sehun’s lips one by one, sucking them, catching the lower lip between his teeth and tugging at it gently. A moan broke from Sehun’s throat when Kai broke the kiss and smashed his mouth onto Sehun’s neck.

Kisses on the neck drove Sehun crazy, Kai had learnt over the weeks. He writhed and coiled, moaned and begged. His wrists wriggled in Kai’s grip as Kai continued to attack his neck with countless kisses. His body arched into Kai’s, and he bared his neck to Kai’s mouth.

“You might want to quiet down if you do not want your father to find you in such a sinful position,” Kai said as he dragged his lips up to Sehun’s chin and jaw.

Sehun moaned as softly as he could, locking his legs around Kai’s waist. “You are… killing me,” he huffed breathlessly.

“Oh, yeah?”

Holding the wrists down in a tighter grip, Kai lowered his crotch to Sehun’s and started rubbing against him. “Kai,” Sehun whimpered, spreading his legs open.

“I can’t wait to be inside you,” said Kai, yanking Sehun’s wrists above the boy’s head to hold them down with one hand while he brought the other to hastily undo the laces of his trousers. “I can’t wait to feel you clench around me and torture me without even trying.”

“You are the one who is torturing me now,” Sehun rasped, running out of breath. Lifting his head a little, he watched Kai tug at the laces before he stuck a hand into the trousers and took hold of his rapidly hardening cock. With his lips parted, Sehun panted for breath as Kai stroked the cock in one hand while the other gripped Sehun’s wrists tightly.

Then releasing his cock momentarily, Kai brought his free hand to shove Sehun’s shirt up, caressing his lover’s soft belly. Sehun gasped in a breath as Kai splayed his fingers on the planes of his belly, a finger teasing his navel.

As soon as he let go of Sehun’s wrists, the boy grabbed onto Kai’s head as Kai lowered it, fingers clutching at the strands of his hair. “Kai,” Sehun mewled weakly when Kai brushed a couple of kisses onto his belly. Then as Kai tongued his navel, Sehun tugged at his hair strongly to pull his head up.

“That tickles,” he told Kai, scowling like a child.

Smirking, Kai leaned down and licked the navel once more. Sehun squirmed and whimpered, pulling at Kai’s hair.

Kai’s hand flew up to grasp Sehun’s wrist again. “Well, well, you have grown bold, haven’t you?” growled Kai, straightening up.

“Perhaps I have,” Sehun said with a small hint of a smile. “What will you do about it?”

Kai shifted forward and took hold of Sehun’s arms before pinning them to the mattress with his knees. Now kneeling on either side of Sehun’s head with the boy’s arms secured under his knees, he grabbed a handful of Sehun’s hair with one and his cock in the other.

“Open your mouth,” he ordered.

Sehun obeyed with total submission. He wanted it as much as Kai did at this point. As he slid into the warmth of Sehun’s mouth, his eyes rolled back, and he let out a heavy breath. He kept sliding in until his cockhead hit the back of Sehun’s neck and the boy retched. Pulling out, Kai slithered back in.

Sehun could hardly hold back the delicious sounds his throat made as Kai thrust into his mouth and down his throat. His cock was soon hard and slathered in Sehun’s spit.

Almost out of breath, Kai slid out of the mouth and looked down at Sehun, who already looked half ravaged. Dipping his head low, he got off Sehun’s arms and crushed Sehun’s swollen lips under his own, kissing his lover sloppily, all tongue, teeth and spit.

Sehun seized the sides of Kai’s tunic then and pulled Kai down to the bed.

Now reclined on the mattress, Kai stared at Sehun who climbed on top of him and straddled him, hands pressed to Kai’s chest to pin him down.

“Damn,” let out Kai, licking his lips. “Did not know I would like having you on top of me so much.”

“Shut up,” Sehun said shyly and hooked his fingers around the hem of Kai’s tunic to yank it off. Discarding it to the floor, he then drew his hands down Kai’s chest and abdomen, fingers skimming the lines of the solid muscles there, while Kai’s hands slid along Sehun’s thighs and into the shirt to hold the sides of his beautiful waist.

His hands then ventured around the waist and cupped Sehun’s ass, fingers digging into the plump, soft flesh. Letting out a moan, Sehun bit on his lip and sat down on Kai’s cock that was lying flat against his stomach. Sehun then slowly began to sway his hips back and forth, grinding his own cock against Kai’s while Kai’s fingers slithered along the cleft of Sehun’s ass.

When he prodded a finger into the opening, Kai’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Oh, wow,” he exhaled. “You really _have_ prepared.”

Sehun blushed at that. “I did not want to… waste any time.”

Kai propped himself up on his elbows and placed a kiss on Sehun’s chin. “Were you thinking of me while you fingered yourself?”

“Kai,” Sehun said in a shivery, whispery breath, hands gripping Kai’s shoulders.

“I just wish I had been there, too.”

Shoving Kai back to lie down, Sehun pulled away briefly to grab the canister of oil from the bedside table. When he uncorked it, it smelled of lilacs. Delicious. Usually, some spit and sweat would suffice. But he knew this would make it all the more pleasant.

“I love that scent,” Kai remarked as Sehun dribbled a generous amount of oil onto his palm.

“It is used to be my favourite scent,” he replied, wrapping his oiled hand around Kai’s cock.

“_Used_ to be? What is your favourite scent now then?””

Sehun ran his tongue along his lips, cheeks turning into a delicate shade of pink. “You.”

It took all of his power for Kai to stop himself from slamming Sehun down on the bed right then and fuck into him mercilessly. “Pretty kitten knows how to win men’s heart.”

“I only care about one heart,” Sehun said and knelt up. Spilling some more oil onto his fingers, he brought them to his back and slid them into his opening. His head fell back as he fingered himself for a moment to lubricate. Kai gripped his fists tightly, teeth clenched.

It was Kai who had a hard time keeping quiet when Sehun pushed himself down on his cock. Though loosened, the walls of Sehun’s insides were still tight enough to make Kai’s breath hitch. And shit, was he hot…

Unlacing the rest of his shirt, Sehun let it hang open, sagging by the shoulders, as he began to rock his hips.

“Fuck,” Kai hissed under his breath, holding onto Sehun’s waist as the boy rode him, his opening clenching around Kai’s cock with every roll. He eventually pushed himself upright to kiss fiercely Sehun on the mouth to silence him when Sehun was starting to moan a tad too loud.

As Sehun gradually began to grow tired, Kai rolled him onto the bed and pulled out of him briefly to take his trousers off. Then returning to the bed, he knelt between Sehun’s thighs and planted his hands into the mattress near the sides of Sehun’s head. Then slithering back into Sehun, he started thrusting hard and fast.

He clasped a hand over Sehun’s mouth to muffle his moans. Sehun was enjoying it. He was enjoying the thrill of it all. Kai was happy to indulge.

“Kai,” Sehun whimpered repeatedly like a prayer, fingernails clawing at Kai’s back and abdomen. “Come… inside me.”

It was probably the dirtiest thing to have come out of the boy’s mouth. And it felt like a blow. Kai wrapped a hand loosely around Sehun’s neck as he felt himself approach his climax almost immediately after Sehun had just come all over their stomachs.

His hand tightened around Sehun’s neck as he fell forward and kissed Sehun full on the mouth, bursting inside Sehun, filling him up with his warm, thick come.

Sehun fought for breath while Kai had forgotten his altogether.

Bathed in sweat, Kai then collapsed on top of Sehun and laid still for a long moment to catch his breath. He did not pull out immediately, knowing that Sehun liked it when he stayed inside him, covered in come. It was not until the second time they had had sex that Sehun had asked him to stay a bit longer so that he does not feel hollow and cold so soon.

He lifted his head from Sehun’s shoulder and looked at the boy, who was a complete wreck. “Can I pull out now?” he asked quietly, still panting for air.

Sehun shook his head.

Smiling, Kai pressed his face back onto the shoulder. “All right.”

* * *

“Must you go now?” asked Sehun once Kai was done clothing himself.

Kai turned and faced his lover’s disappointed frown. “I am happy to stay. But I do not think your family would appreciate my being here the same.”

Sehun sighed. “I wish… I could tell them. Be open about everything.”

Kai walked over to where Sehun was sitting on the edge of the bed, wrapped loosely in a blanket. “You know why we cannot do that.”

Sehun nodded his head slowly. “I know but…” He looked up at Kai with glassy eyes. “I feel that our love should not be hidden away like it is an abhorrent, shameful thing.”

He was right. Kai could not agree more. He wished that things were different, too. That they were both allowed to love as freely as they wanted.

“Why don’t we appreciate what we have for now?” said Kai, cupping a side of Sehun’s face. “Be grateful for what we already have? To have each other. To still be able to see each other.”

Sehun leaned into Kai’s touch, eyes falling heavy. “I am. Very grateful.”

“Good.” Taking hold of Sehun’s chin, Kai tipped it up and bowed his own head to give Sehun a tender kiss. “Boys like me could never ask for too much. I know I am not a very religious person, but I do count you as one of my very few blessings, Sehun. Having you in my life is more than enough for now.”

Though Sehun understood Kai’s sentiment, it was clear as day that the boy longed for more. For things like marriage, family, freedom. Perhaps that was why Kai appealed to him. Because he believed that Kai was courageous enough to fight for all those things. But Kai was not. He would never risk losing Sehun. In the few months that he had been with Sehun, he knew that he would want to be with the boy forever if fate permitted.

“Look at me,” Kai said as he walked over to the window and clambered up onto the ledge. “Climbing out of your window like an undeserving peasant boy after meeting up with his prince in secret.”

Jumping over the ledge, he landed on the other side of the window. He stopped to look at Sehun again as the boy leaned over the windowsill, smiling so beautifully.

“_You_ are my prince,” said Sehun, fisting a hand around Kai’s tunic by the chest. Kai rose to the tip of his toes to kiss Sehun one last time.

“I can’t wait to see you again,” Kai whispered against Sehun’s lips before pulling away.

Though he had started walking away, he stopped and turned around to grab the back of Sehun’s neck and pull him down for one more kiss.

“I love you,” Kai muttered into the kiss. Then backing away, he smirked at the way Sehun blushed.

He was ready to admit it. His love for Sehun was almost cloying. Sickeningly sweet and strong. He wondered how it would destroy him if it were to be taken away from him.

* * *

CHAPTER FIVE

“Here is yer pay,” said Mr. Lot, handing Kai the wages he had earned today. “There is a big delivery tomorrow at the slaughterhouse. We need an extra pair of hands at sunup. Be here sharp.”

Kai nodded his head. “Thanks for the coins, Mr. Lot.”

The butcher gave a rough grunt in reply.

Kai did not go home after work that evening. As promised, he went to see his two friends at the tavern. By the time he got there, Carrot and Jee were already two tankards down.

The songster was there tonight. Drunk men and women were cavorting around the tavern to the songs he was singing.

Kai wished that he could bring Sehun here to experience the sort of merrymaking people like him rejoiced in. It was so loud and colourful. Kai knew it was nothing compared to the fancy parties the High Priest and his family would be invited to. But something told him that Sehun would enjoy this.

“Kai!” Carrot hollered from the table he and Jee were sitting at, waving at Kai. “Come on over!”

Smiling to himself, Kai walked toward them. “Hey.”

“We really thought you would not come,” said Jee as Kai took his seat and took one of their tankards.

“How did you figure that?”

“Well, you are always off doing something else that is more important than us these days.”

They were right. Kai was indeed off doing something more important than them nowadays. In fact, it was the most important thing in his life now.

“What is it?” asked Carrot. “Is it a lass?”

Kai kept mum, taking a swig of the dark beer.

Carrot then gasped. “Yes, it is! There is a lass, isn’t it?! Who is it?”

“There is no lass,” said Kai. “Now, will you shut up about it?”

“Fine,” said Carrot. “Well, I boiled a pretty lass the other day. She had a really sweet set of treasure down there.”

They drank quite a bit that night. Enough to make Kai’s head spin whenever he looked down at his own feet. They stumbled out of the tavern, giggling and wobbling.

“You were right,” Kai drawled at one point as they dawdled down the street. “There is someone.”

His friends came to a halt to look at him with shocked eyes. “I knew it!” yapped Carrot. “Tell us, then. Who is it?”

Kai was glad that he was not all that drunk to spill all the beans. “You two do not need to know,” he scoffed and kept on walking.

“I can’t believe it. Which lass is bonkers enough to want a rotter like you?” asked Jee.

“All of them,” said Kai.

“Because you are so good at spreading their legs?”

“I believe I’m the best. That is why I have a lover, and you two idiots don’t.” Kai smirked, looking back at his friends as they walked into an alley.

“Really? Do you think you could pick up a strumpet and not pay a single coin?” asked Carrot.

“Is that a wager?”

“Sure. I’d wager you cannot charm a strumpet. Not without a pouch of coins you won’t.”

Kai snorted out a chuckle. “Shall we see about that?” He strutted onto the street of whores. “How much do you wager?”

“Three coins. Each of us,” said Jee.

“Hah! Easiest money I’d ever make.” He pointed to the strumpets in the alleys, dressed in skimpy kirtles and tight bodices. They were not even trying to look in Kai and his friends’ way. “Pick one. Anyone. And we’ll see if she would agree to go with me for no coin.”

“All right! That’s a bet,” said Carrot.

“But I’ll tell you not that I ain’t going to go any further than flirting,” said Kai as he walked toward the group of prostitutes.

“Why not? Are you a fool?”

“Perhaps. A fool in love.”

“Yuck,” spat Jee. “A moron is what you will be if you turn down for a good time with one of those ladies. They have a lot of experience.”

“Just pick one,” said Kai.

Jee pointed to the prettiest one in the batch. Which meant, she must also be the priciest. “That one.”

Kai rolled his shoulders back and started for the strumpet. “Hey,” he said, licking his lips. “How did a pretty girl like you end up in a place like this?”

The strumpet scoffed. “If you have no coin, I am not interested, boy.”

Heaving a sigh, Kai leaned against the alley wall and crossed his arms over his chest. “I just wanted to talk. That’s all.”

“If you have no coin, I do not want to talk to you.” She arched an eyebrow at him.

“I have no coin,” said Kai with a smug smile. “But you already know that. Yet you’re still entertaining me, aren’t you?”

That made her expression twist. She bit her lip seductively and took a step closer to Kai. “You are wasting my time, boy.”

“Then I suggest we get to it forthwith, beautiful.”

“Hm,” she scoffed. “You aren’t very good with your words. But your body language on the other hand…”

She stepped forward and put a hand on Kai’s chest before dragging it down to his abdomen.

“Step aside, whore!” he heard a sudden yap then.

Kai peered over the alley wall and gazed at the temple guard who was shooing a prostitute out of their way. He was accompanying a woman, who must be returning from her evening prayers at the temple.

And next to her was… Sehun… who had halted in his tracks and was gawking directly in Kai’s way. The tears in his eyes sheened under the evening stars. But more than anything, he looked furious.

Kai had never seen Sehun angry. In fact, he did not even think that the boy was capable of any sort of violent emotion.

“_Shit_,” Kai muttered under his breath, pulling away from the prostitute at once.

Sehun’s mother scowled at Kai and the other men prowling the area. “Even such young lads stray further away from the God’s light every day,” said the woman as she took hold of Sehun’s arm and yanked him away. “We shall take another road home.”

Kai could not swallow the lump in his throat. He opened his mouth to stop Sehun, but he decided not to say anything as Sehun furiously turned on his heel and stomped away with his hands balled into tight fists at his sides.

Fuck. He was done for.

* * *

He tried talking to Sehun for the next few days. The few days turned into a week. After losing his sleep for nights, Kai was starting to lose his mind. But Sehun refused to even see him every time Kai would show up at his window. Whenever Kai snuck into the temple to meet him, he was left with another disappointment due to Sehun’s absence.

He waited under the old bridge, their usual rendezvous spot, for hours at night after work, and Sehun never made an appearance. Kai wanted to hit himself real hard where it hurt the most. One stupid mistake, and he might have ruined everything with the best thing to happen to him.

Sehun’s anger was justifiable, he supposed. If anything, it proved that Kai meant a lot to him. Still, Kai had messed up really bad this time. He had to make things right again.

On the eighth night, after work, he knocked on the wooden window and waited for a while before heaving a deep breath.

“Sehun,” he called. “I know you’re there. Please, let me in so that we can talk. So that… I can explain myself.”

No response. But he smelled the lilacs and the berries.

Sighing heavily, he then said, “I am sorry. I know I hurt you. I… I never meant to. But I swear it is just a misunderstanding. It was a stupid bet. And I was drunk enough to…” he trailed off, shaking his head as he leaned against the wall next to the window. “Fuck, I am never drinking again. What I wanted to say is that… I would never touch someone else. I promised you that on the first night we spent together. And I intend on keeping my word, even though I’m a good-for-nothing degenerate. And you have no reason to believe me.”

He still heard no answer.

After a few minutes, he decided to leave Sehun be for the night. If he pushed more, he was worried that he would push him away. So, he began to walk away, saving his breath for when Sehun’s anger had been placated.

But then he heard a click and stopped. When he looked back, Sehun had opened the window and was staring at him with a frown. “Come back here,” the boy muttered and turned around.

Smiling, Kai walked back to the window and climbed over it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading and leaving comments and kudos!


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